Breast cancer surviors have been getting bad advice regarding exercise.

Once again, decades old advice has been upset by modern research and logical thinking. In a recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers showed that lifting heavy objects or weight training did NOT make flare ups of lymphedema in breast cancer survivors worse, but it prevented and helped the condition.

This is yet another example that there are very few conditions in which proper exercise is totally contraindicated. In fact, nothing or bed rest as recommended may be the worst thing to do, or at the least, prevent healing and regaining function.

Read the study here.

I have personally trained many breast cancer survivors and have never seen a flare up of lymphedema as a result of exercise, especially proper weight training. Many times, patients are advised not to lift more than 5 or 10 pounds with the affected arm. However, one could easily see that this is unrealistic advice considering even opening a door exposes an arm to more force than that. Likewise, we know that circuit weight training methods such as S.P.A.R.T.A. Training™ have beneficial effects on circulation which is the problem when lymph nodes are removed due to breast cancer. There have been such good vascular effects that even new growth of vascular pathways have been documented developing in trained musculature. Logic would tell us that since the cardiovascular system and lymph system are connected, the same would probably occur there as well. Of course, vague and non-descript statements like “don’t lift more than 5 pounds” are worthless. And the fact that it is nearly impossible to communicate with a patient’s doctor, we just did the best we could and started slow and continued with a progressive program and our clients did wonderfully and this has been continuing for years. This has helped them immensely to regain strength, function, and circulation problems that they may have lost. Not to mention the money it will save them. As pointed out in the study, the participants who weight trained went to their doctors for flare ups less than half as much as the participants who did not exercise. The group who did not exercise went to the doctor 195 times. Even if just the cost of their co-pays were saved, this amounts to a sizeable benefit from a little bit of exercise.

For more information on how proper exercise can help cancer survivors and other conditions visit our medical page.